“Critical mass” vital
The head of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. has revealed she likes the concept of a larger casino cluster in Manila along the lines of the famous Las Vegas Strip or the newer Cotai Strip in Macau.
But PAGCOR Chairwoman and CEO Andrea Domingo told Inside Asian Gaming that the four casinos now in Manila’s Entertainment City—Bloomberry Resorts’ Solaire; Melco Resorts’ Studio City Manila; Universal Entertainment’s Okada Manila; and Resorts World Manila, a property of Alliance Global Group and Genting Hong Kong—“are very opposed to a fifth operator and they’re asking for the moratorium of five years for the industry to mature.”
Domingo said the state-run regulator has granted that wish. “There cannot be another casino operating there until after February 2022 which is just about the end of the term of this administration. But I really think there should be a critical mass in Entertainment City, making the area more contiguous and each IR more accessible. I really believe that.”
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte recently quashed a proposed fifth operator, Landing International, by saying its land deal for the planned US$1.5 billion NayonLanding integrated resort was illegal. Duterte fired the entire board of Landing’s local partner, Nayong Pilipino Foundation, the same day as the company held its August groundbreaking.
Domingo told IAG she “cannot tell” if more operators will be welcomed into Entertainment City in future because “land is very limited there.”
“There’s new land in nearby areas and if the president or the next president will lift the moratorium, but I cannot foretell what will happen,” she said.
